Open Letter from Scientists to the American Museum of Natural History

The American Museum of Natural History in New York (AMNH) is a treasured and influential institution. Museums must be protected as sites that build understanding, help the public make meaning, and serve the common good. We are concerned that the vital role of science education institutions will be eroded by a loss of public trust if museums are associated with individuals and organizations known for rejecting climate science, opposing environmental regulation and clean energy initiatives, and blocking efforts to reduce pollutants and greenhouse gases.

Rebekah Mercer and the Mercer Family Foundation, political kingmakers and the financiers behind Breitbart News, have given tens of millions of dollars to a list of organizations who attack climate science and policy solutions. This includes ringleaders of climate denial such as the Heartland Institute, which garnered $5.9 million from the Mercers from 2008-2016. While on the Trump Administration Transition Team, Rebekah Mercer nominated climate denier Arthur Robinson, board member of Heartland Institute, for consideration as a National Science Advisor. Newly disclosed 2016 tax documents show grants to Heartland Institute for $800,000, the CO2 Coalition for $150,000 and the Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide for $125,000. All of those organizations maintain that carbon dioxide pollution is beneficial for ecosystems, agriculture and humanity, a position in clear conflict with the international scientific consensus on climate change.

The renewed attention to Mercer Family Foundation chair Rebekah Mercer, who sits on the AMNH Board of Trustees (since 2013), spurs us to reissue a statement that scientists first co-signed in 2015:

“When some of the biggest contributors to climate change and funders of misinformation on climate science sponsor exhibitions in museums of science and natural history, they undermine public confidence in the validity of the institutions responsible for transmitting scientific knowledge.”

Since that original letter, we have seen welcome changes as many museums updated their policies related to fossil fuel financial interests; the American Museum of Natural History increased its focus on climate change concerns and global sustainability in its investments and business plans. But given the prior AMNH funding and board membership associated with Exxon Corporation and David Koch, the prominence of Rebekah Mercer and the Mercer Family Foundation as current AMNH donors and on the Board of Trustees can prompt skepticism and hunts for signs of corruption, no matter the quality of the museum priorities and exhibits overall.

Last week thousands of people shared a Twitter comment by environmental economist Jonah Busch, PhD, who pointed out misleading information on climate science in an Exxon-funded exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History. To its credit, the AMNH’s response was swift: it committed to updating the outdated information to reflect the best available science. But the initial online public anger showed that trust in the museum is undermined by the museum’s association with climate science opponents.

The most important asset any museum has is its credibility. This can be damaged by ties to donors and board members who are publicly known for investing in climate science obfuscation and opposing environmental solutions.

We ask the American Museum of Natural History, and all public science museums, to end ties to anti-science propagandists and funders of climate science misinformation, and to have Rebekah Mercer leave the American Museum of Natural History Board of Trustees.

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This letter was initiated by The Natural History Museum, a nonprofit traveling museum that partners with scientists, major public museums, educators, artists, and community organizations.

The views represented in this letter are those of the individual signatories and not the institutions they are affiliated with. Institutions are listed simply for identification purposes.

1. James Powell, Geochemist; Former President of the Franklin Institute Science Museum and former President and Director of the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum

2. Eric Chivian, founder and Director of the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School, co-founder of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985

12. Calvin B. DeWitt, Environmental Scientist, Co-founder of the Evangelical Environmental Network, President of the Academy of Evangelical Scientists and Ethicists, and Professor Emeritus of Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison

15. Stefan Rahmstorf, Professor of Physics of the Oceans, Potsdam University; Head of Earth System Analysis, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research

16. Naomi Oreskes, Professor of the History of Science and Affiliated Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University

17. James J. McCarthy, Professor of Oceanography, Harvard University; Former Co-Chair, IPCC Working Group II; Former President, American Association for the Advancement of Science; Chair emeritus, Union of Concerned Scientists

27. Dr Simon L Lewis, Reader, Global Change Science, at University College London and University of Leeds

28. James Booth, Assistant Professor, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, City College of New YorkEarth and Environmental Sciences, Graduate Center, City University of New York; Affiliated Scientist NASA GISS

29. Robert N. Proctor, Professor of the History of Science, Stanford University

30. Sarah Kornbluth, Biologist; Field Associate, American Museum of Natural History